Rhythm of Life
by DressageQueen
Summary: What girl doesn't want a wild mustang?
1. Chapter 1

The young girl's eyes narrowed as she stared across the dresert, searching for the wild horses. They had been here the day before, and she wanted to see the herd, and one horse inparticular. She loved to watch them gallop across the range, their manes and tails flowing in the wind, the youger horse frolicking an playing. But alas, on this still summer day, there were no horses. They were probably in their valley, staying cool in the shade of the trees.

"Lookin' for mustangs?" The silence was broken as the girl turned to smile at the boy who had spoken to her. She laughed and replied, "What else would I be doing? I wish Dad would let me adopt one." "Maybe for your birthday he'll let you get one. It can't hurt to ask. Come on, let's get back to the ranch. Mom wants to take us shoping for clothes before we go back to school." The boy said this with a slight frown on his face, and the girl laughed again, knowing shopping was the last thing he wanted to do. "Do you really think Dad'll let me get a mustang? I love Santé and Angelo, but I want a horse that's challenging, not all fancy and trained before I get him." "Santé isn't challenging?" the boy asked dryly, for Santé was forever bucking and bolting and pulling all kinds of stunts. "Besides, what would you do with a mustang?" "I wanna go out and just ride on the range. Maybe try that liberty training, I don't know. Santé and Angelo can't be ridden anywhere but in the arena, and while I do love Tempest," she then patted Tempest, the mare she was riding, "she's Mom's horse, and she is getting older." "Talk to Mom about about it first, when we go shopping, before asking Dad. She's more likely to get him to give in. But why a mustang? You know Dad will buy you any horse you want, but he isn't too fond of mustangs. Most girls would ask for a jumper, or Hunter, or eq horse, not a mustang." "I know, but I get so tired of all the glamour of the show ring. With Angelo and Santé both being Grand Prix dressage horses, it would be nice to have more of a pet and a friend for a horse, rather than my partner in competitions. And while Dad would love to buy me a quarter horse, I think it'd be fun to gentle a mustang." "Whatever you say," the boy replied, "I'm happy with Buster for reining and Timmy for trails and ranch work. Look, there's Mom." The girl turned to see their mother riding towards them on their Dad's fiery black stallion, Primo, who wasn't always the nicest, and had the same disposition as his dam, Witch. Primo loved Mom though, and was as gentle as a lamb with her, and while he respected Dad, he would try to test him sometimes, but, "it's keeps thing interestin'," as Dad would always say.

"Jordan, Heather, lets go. We need to go shopping before school starts next week, we're having that cookout at Jen and Ryan's tomorrow, so we have to go today," Sam said all in one breath as soon as she reached her children.

They both had Jake's black hair and tanned skin, but had Sam's blue eyes. but while Jordan took after her in the sense that he could talk forever and be somewhat forgetful, Heather was exactly like her father, quiet and calculating to the point that she sometimes drove her brother mad with her patience, but her awareness and quiet demeanor were what made her so talented in the dressage court. Heather was painfully shy, like her father, and spent most of her time with her horses and the other animals around the ranch. Jordan on the other hand always had friends over and enjoyed playing on the basketball and baseball team at the high school. He was going to be a sophomore this year, and Sam was a little nervous for Heather, going in as a freshman, but she knew Jordan would watch out for his sister.

"We're going to the Slocum's?" Heather asked quietly, "I didn't know that." "What, nervous to see Kyle?" Jordan asked teasingly, for he knew his sister had a bit of a crush on his best friend, and Jen and Ryan's oldest son.  
>"Jordan, don't tease your sister," Sam said, "and Heather, Jen just called to invite us, and I think it'd be a great way to kick off the school year, don't you?" "Yeah, sure, I guess. Come on, we're here. Lets put the horses away and get this shopping thing over with," Jordan responded, for they had arrived at Three Ponies. The ranch had apparently been a wedding gift to Mom and Dad from Grandma and Papa, although it was smaller than what it had been in the past. It was no longer a working cattle ranch, for Dad now oversaw the breeding and training of all the dogs used in law enforcement. They had quite a bit of money, sincr their parents made quite a bit working for the government, which was how Heather had her fancy imported dressage warmbloods, and Jordan has his well bred quarter horses. While they splurged on horses, Sam and Jake wanted to keep their kids down to earth and not spoil them too much, so they made sure their kids did chores and helped out around the house. After putting their horses up and Heather said good bye to her two geldings, the three of them got in the car and took of for the mall.<p>

A/N: What do you think? It just kinda popped into my head so I wanna see where it goes. Santé and Angelo are based off real horses that I know, temperament and Grand Prix dressage training included, (Santé in real life is SO fun to watch, but riding him looks like a nighmare) and they'll look and have the same breeding and as the real guys. Primo is also a real horse, although he's a hanoverian and not a quarter horse, (I guess Witch could've been bred to a thoroughbred, so he's heavy with long legs) but color wise and the fiery temperament are the same. I'm slightly obsessed with horses and dressage if you couldn't tell lol:) I'll put my own horse in the story too, because life just isn't complete without him. Anyways,let me know what you think or if you have any ideas and/or suggestions. 


	2. Chapter 2

When they got to the mall, Sam immediately headed for Brass Plum as her children trailed behind her slowly. "Heather, try these on," Sam said as she shoved sweaters and jeans into her daughter's arms. "We'll go to Urban Outfitters or something after. Jordan, you don't need much, just go pick out some shirts there. I know you guys don't like shopping, so let's make it as quick as possible. And Lulu. We need to go to Lululemon." Heather groaned she head for the dressing rooms. Mom loved Lulu. It was okay in Heather's opinion, but she didn't really understand the concept of wearing workout clothes you would never work out in. But the clothes were pretty cute, and super comfortable.

When the got to Urban Outfitters, Heather's saw a dress that was adorable, but she didn't think she'd ever wear it. It was strapless and pretty short, and was dark blue with polka dots on the skirt part. "Oh that's too cute!" Sam said when she saw the dress. "Try it on, you could wear it to the cook out tomorrow." "I guess..." Heather said, as she took the dress off the rack and went to try it on. "Oh that looks amazing on you!" Sam exclaimed when Heather came out with the dress on. "Lets get it!"

Heather couldn't be happier when they left the mall two hours later. Mom had dragged them to a countless amount of stores and bought things for them, herself, for the house, and finally grocery shopping. Jordan was in a bad mood from shopping all day and Heather wanted to get back, for she needed to exercise Santé and Angelo. She smiled as she thought about her two boys. Santé was a massive at 17.3, and was a bay Dutch Warmblood with three socks and a stripe down his nose. He had an explosive personality, and was forever getting himself hurt and testing Heather, but he was extremely talented, and had been doing Prix St. Gerorge since he was seven. He was 15 now, which reminded Heather that she would need to make another trip to Europe soon to get another dressage prospect, since Santé was getting older and Angelo was close to retirement at 19. Heather loved Santé, but she had a true bond with Angelo. He was a Danish Warmblood, and a dark bay with no white on him. He was fairly tall at 17.1, but he was the sweetest, most gentle horse ever. He was incredibly patient, and had taught Heather so much about dressage. The best days of her life were when she tried him in Europe, and when he finally arrived in Nevada.

"Do you think I could get a wild mustang for my birthday?" Heather asked her mom when they were in the car and driving back home. "I'm not sure..." Sam replied. "I'm fine with it, but I don't know if your father will go for it. You know how protective he can be," Sam said with a smile, "but I'll talk to him about it. He may be more willing to give in if he helps you, especially in the beginning." Heather desperately hoped her dad would let her adopt one.

When they got back, Heather immediately ran upstairs to her room to get changed so she could go exercise Angelo and Santé. She pulled on her favorite gray Pikeur breeches and a mint green EIS shirt, before grabbing one of the pair's of Palantis she used for practice and her practice Samshield helmet. She pulled her long dark, wavy hair into a bun and raced back downstairs and out to the barn. There was nothing she loved better than just spending time with her horses. Her trainer wasn't coming to give her a lesson today, so she came up with a plan for each of the horses, and decided what she would work on with each one. She brushed and tacked up Santé before heading into the indoor arena her parents had built for her and Jordan that was adjacent to the barn.

After her ride, where Santé had been amazing, she headed back into the barn to untack him and get Angelo ready. As she was putting Santé in the crossties, she looked up to see her Dad striding towards her. "How was he," he asked, as he came up to Heather and Santé and patted Santé on the nose. "Fonominal," Heather replied. "He's been super relaxed during his tempis lately instead of getting tense and throwing a fit. I'm so proud of him. Now we're mainly working on cleaning up his piaffe, but it's more fun than work," she said with a smile as she patted Santé on the neck and gave him a carrot. "Was there something you wanted?" she then asked her Dad, for he usually left her alone when she was riding on her own. Jake liked to just ride out on the range instead of working in an arena. He didn't understand why anyone would really want to do dressage, but it made Heather happy, and that was the most important thing to him.

"Mom mentioned you wanted a wild mustang for you birthday," he said. "What do you say we go look at the corrals tomorrow before the cook out, just to see." "Oh Dad, thank you so much!" Heather exclaimed. "Now I just said look, that doesn't guarantee anything," Jake replied, although he knew they'd be getting one if Heather found one she fell in love with.

**A/N: What did you think? They'll proably go see the mustangs next chapter then have have the cook out in the chapter after that. Again, suggestions or comments are always welcome. I'll update when I can, so we'll see how it works out with school. Haha I mainly started this story because I just got a new horse and I wanted to write about him, so he'll appear soon:) as you can tell, I'm a bit obsessed with shopping and riding clothes in general, so I'll probably be unnecessarily throwing in the brand names of Heather's clothes, so bear with me**.


	3. Chapter 3

"Heather, are you almost ready?" Jake asked as he came into the kitchen the following morning to get a cup of coffee. "Yep," Heather responded as she quickly ties her shoes and took the piece of toast from her mom. "Let's go!" She said with a huge smile on her face and bounded out the door. "No horse-trailer?" She asked when they got outside and she just saw the black Range Rover sitting in the drive way. "We are just going to look. We may get one for you eventually, but we definitely are not getting one today. Besides, Stacy called me yesterday. She think a it's fine for you to get another horse." "Yeah, ok. I was think about a Swedish Warmblood this time. Maye one by Björsells Briar? He's pretty cute. I LOVE the chrome. But for the mustang, I was think-"  
>"Heather."Jake interrupted. "She wants you to try something different. Maybe get a jumper or hunter this time. You have a lot of talent, and frankly I would much rather buy you a nice horse rather than risk having you get hurt. I've seen lots of accidents related to mustangs."<br>"Dad, I hate jumping. And don't get me started on hunters. They just show up and their horse is ready for them. They don't have a true bond with their horse." "You and your mother both. You love your horses too much."  
>"Oh Dad, It's pretty obvious how much Witch and Primo mean to you," Heather said with a grin, for Jake always made sure his horses had the best of everything and that they were completely happy. Although it was a little hard to tell if Witch was ever happy. If she was, Heather sure didn't want to see her unhappy. They finally pulled into the BLM facility, and Heather had to crane her neck to try to see the horses in the corrals. As soon as Jake parked the car, she hopped out and walked quickly over the the closest pen. She heard Jake greet her uncle Cody, who was in college now, but helped out at the BLM facility over the summer. Heather slowly walked up and down the rows, looking at all the horses. She stopped though, when one caught her eye. It was a gelding, and he was slightly taller then the other horses he was in the pen with at about 15.1hh. No where near as tall as Heather's warmbloods, but for a mustang that was a pretty decent size. And his coloring... he was the most unique and beautiful horse Heather had ever seen. He was a super dark golden color, almost a liver chesnut, but instead of his mane and tail being the same color like with most chestnuts, they were a creamy white. He was looking at Heather, but didn't seem fearful or wary at all. Just curious. She looked over her shoulder as her dad and uncle Cody approached. "Dad look! Isn't he absolutly beautiful?"<br>Jake sighed and looked between the horse and his daughter. He had to admit, the horse was quite a looker, and he also knew there was no way they were walking out of there without adopting this horse. "This one has been pretty quiet. He's been here about a month, but was from a facility up in Oregon that didn't have enough room. Do he was gelded a few months ago," Cody reported on the horse. "And you know we have trailers, you can borrow, since I noticed you didn't bring one," he added with a wink at Heather. "Please, Dad, please. I'll go into the hunter circuit if you want, and I'll do more chores. Anything. Just please can k get this horse?" "Alright. Since I know I'll never hear the end of it for you or your mom if I don't let you get him. But we are going to put him in one of the back pastures, and you are not to go in there with him until I've had a chance to work with him. Is that clear?" Jake asked. "Yes of course! I can still take pictures of him from outside the fence. Oh my God thank you so much!" Jake shook his head but smiled as he headed into the office to fill out the paperwork. "Now I have to come up with a name for you," Heather said, and she leaned against the railing and looked at the horse. "Pumpkin, Coffee, Aristocrat, Baylee, Noble, Dancer, Echo, Sudance... none of those really fit you. But I'll come up with something." Just then a flock of geese flew overhead, and Heaher began to think of bird names. "Eagle, Bluejay, Mockingbird, Hawk, Falcon... Falcon! I'll call you Falcon."

A/N: What did you think? In case you couldn't tell, Falcon is based exactly off my horse. I did change his name, but just by two letters, and only because I thought Falcon was a better suited name for a mustang. Other than the breed and the name, everything is the same. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns or ideas. 


End file.
